James Henry on target against Burton in August 2018

It’s the 12th of September – that day I’ll always remember – when Oxford United welcome Burton Albion for just the U’s second home game of the season, thanks to the farcical postponements of the Reading game.

A brief glance at the League One table so far shows that every other side has played at least two – and often three – home games already, so with United already a game down on every other side (apart from, of course, Reading themselves) it would seem a good opportunity to try to steal a march on the others and pick up a few points while playing catch-up.

The U’s and the Brewers are no strangers to each other, first crossing swords way back in November 1958, when the visitors beat Headington United 3-2 at the Manor in a Southern League fixture. Jimmy Jackson and Joe Dickson were on target for Headington. Despite that defeat, United finished in the top half of the division by one place, allowing them to become founder members of the new Southern League Premier Division. Burton didn’t fare so well, and so the sides didn’t meet again in the Shire for almost 50 years.

The next occasion they met was at an equivalent level, in the Conference, in March 2007, Oxford’s first season in that division. The goalless draw didn’t really help United’s promotion aspirations and they had to settle for the play-offs, losing the semi-final against Exeter City.

This was the beginning of a relatively lengthy dalliance between the sides, who have now met 32 times in total, despite regular fixtures occurring in only the last 20 years. In March 2008, things didn’t go Oxford’s way as Albion secured the second of their five wins in Oxford, hammering Darren Patterson’s side 3-0, with James Clarke getting sent off in the second half.

It wasn’t until October 2008 that United finally secured the first of their seven home wins over Burton, as goals from Phil Trainer and James Constable saw the U’s to a narrow 2-1 win, with the Brewers scoring a late goal to keep Oxford sweating.

The sides’ first meeting in Oxford as Football League teams came in a League Two fixture in March 2011. A Steve MacLean brace and a Tom Craddock goal earned United a 3-0 win. Unfortunately, I can’t find any YouTube footage of the game, so you’ll just have to take my word for it, right.

Oxford’s next home win over Burton didn’t arrive until August 2018, in League One, when goals from John Mousinho (in his first game against his former club – but did he actually touch the ball? Watch the footage and decided for yourselves), James Henry (main pic, top), and Ricky Holmes contributed to a 3-1 scoreline.

After a 4-2 defeat in August 2019, Oxford have won all of their last four home games against Burton, starting with a 4-0 win in May 2021 that took Oxford into a play-off semi-final against Blackpool. This was the final regular league game of the Covid-wracked season, and was played with no spectators present. I was there though, I can confirm that Sam Winnall scored the best goal of the game in second-half stoppage time, to add to strikes from Olamide Shodipo, Matty Taylor, and Elliot Lee.

Just under a year later, in March 2022, the U’s hit the Brews for four again, although this time they managed to get a consolation goal. Two from Sam Baldock, plus goals from Gavin Whyte and Taylor (again) did the damage. All the goals came in the first half.

Six months later, in September 2022, the U’s won by a more modest 2-1, thanks to goals from Cameron Brannagan and Kyle Joseph, with Burton’s goal coming late on. All the goals were scored in the second half this time, in the interests of balance.

The last time the sides met in Oxford was in the Yellows’ promotion season, in December 2023. A Rúben Rodrigues brace and a Marcus McGuane strike saw the three points stay in the county and set up a nice win for Des Buckingham.

The Match

Oxford United come into the game full of confidence following their magnificent 4-0 win in Leicester on Saturday. A result that leaves United nicely placed in 10th place with two home games to come, the second against Cambridge United next weekend.

Coincidentally, those other U’s were Burton’s visitors at the weekend. With both teams having relatively good starts to the season it was an early test for them both, and the points were shared in a 2-2 draw that lifted Albion to sixth in the table, just one point ahead of Oxford and with an identical goal difference.

Burton’s goals were scored by Finn Delap (son of long-throw merchant Rory) and Curtis Tilt, but it’s former Oxford academy graduate Kyran Lofthouse who has been catching the eye, grabbing three assists already this season.

It is, of course, another academy graduate, Mo Missanga, who has been making headlines for the U’s with a goal and an assist in the lashing of Leicester, as well as making left-back Christian Macfarlane look like he’d never played football before. And while we can’t be too gushing in our Mo moment (false dawns, weight of expectation, and all that), it was heartening to see loan debutant Luka Lynch replace him without blunting United’s attacking threat and claiming as assist for the fourth goal.

With no new injuries (that we’re aware of) to concern us, it leaves the status of goalie Jamie Cumming as the main question mark. He was on the bench at the King Power, so is presumably able to take some part but, even if fully fit, does Aaron Ramsey drop Simon Eastwood? He has made some blinding saves while covering for Cumming, and has no negatives against his name in the almost three games he has played. Tough call for the fledgling gaffer.

While we still await news of Ruben Roosken and Jeon Jin-Woo, whose returns to the squad are probably still a month or so away, we can only imagine what the side’s attacking threat will be like when they are both back in the fold (with the caveat that no one else gets injured in the meantime). Frankie Kent remains the only long-term absentee.

Burton have played two away games so far, beating Leicester (as do we all) and losing to Notts County (which as coincidence would have it, is Oxford’s next road trip, after the international break). Not really a large enough sample size from which to draw any meaningful analysis.

However, their relatively lofty position in the table must give them some optimism ahead of the game and they are almost certainly going to be less expansive and less crap than Leicester were. It will probably be quite a tight game, with maybe just a single goal in it.

However, we’re not going to allow the opportunity for positive thinking following the Leicester result to pass, so I reckon we’ve got this. Another 2-1 scoreline in the Mighty Yellows’ favour (fingers have been crossed, wood has been touched – oo er – and somewhere a black cat has been working overtime).

It’s my turn to write up the match report after Paul’s sterling work with three away games on the bounce. Come on Oxford, I hate writing sad stories.